Marvel's Agents of SHIELD : Grant Ward's Redemption
by spentlizard
Summary: Set after the events of Season 1. Grant Ward has always been the one to follow orders. It was the only thing he knew: he was HYDRA. But, after the experiences he had with his team, did he really want any of that anymore? Or did he want something, or someone, more? Join Ward as he struggles to bury his bloodstained past and reclaim his honor as an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
1. The Mistakes We Make

Grant Ward was sitting alone in his cell, his hands placed over his eyes. He had been sitting in this room for several days, and the only thing he could think of was a four-letter word that was the embodiment of pure evil:

_Nazi._

This is what Skye had compared him to for his actions with HYDRA. He was, as she had stated, self-obsessed with following orders, and that's what the Nazis did: they had followed Hitler blindly into doing his bidding, claiming the lives of 6 million European Jews and millions more as a result of World War II. They didn't care, they just wanted stability, structure, order, no matter the cost.

And that's exactly what Ward did: he followed Garrett blindly, just because he wanted stability, structure, and order in a life that provided none. He didn't care what he did or who he killed to accomplish that. He had done everything that Garrett had told him to do because he had saved him from a life as a prisoner.

But now, he was gone. Coulson had killed him. And here he was, sitting in a cell, several-hundred feet below ground, a prisoner.

Ward knew that he was beyond redemption. He had murdered countless S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, including Victoria Hand, Eric Koenig, and two agents from his own team: Leopold Fitz and Jemma Simmons.

"Oh God," he sighed, thinking back to the events of that day.

_"Ward, just turn around!" Fitz called out to him behind the glass door._

_"Think about this, what you're doing!" Simmons begged. _

_"I know that you care about us, Ward!" Fitz shouted._

_Ward stood there for a few moments in complete silence, then, without turning around, he said "You're right. I do."_

_He turned to face the two of them and said "That's a weakness."_

_He pulled back the switch that released the cargo-hold from the Bus, and, as the wind from the outside started picking up at the high altitude, Fitz and Simmons were banging their hands on the glass and begging for him to save them, but no noise came out of their mouths. Ward watched with a solemn expression as his teammates fell into the ocean to their deaths._

"No!" Ward shouted, and he punched the steel wall behind him. When he pulled his fist back, he saw that his knuckles were bleeding. Garrett had taught him to disconnect the pain so that he wouldn't feel it, but he was irrelevant at this point. Besides, no amount of resistance to physical pain could compensate for the utter dread that consumed his soul.

_Nazi._

For all of his life, all he did was listen to Garrett. He did everything he was told to do, just like a slave. He was never truly loyal to HYDRA, Centipede, or even S.H.I.E.L.D., only him.

And now, he was paying the price.

Did he really owe Garrett? He took him out of juvenile detention, but then he dumped him in the woods for six months by himself. _He _had taught himself to survive, not him. Why was he so intent on obeying Garrett's words? He could not find the answer, but if there was one thing that he taught him that actually meant something, it was to trust only in himself.

And that's exactly what he didn't do. He knew what he was doing was wrong, but he chose to trust Garrett over himself.

He never liked HYDRA, that was certain. But he had a certain soft-spot for S.H.I.E.L.D. They treated him with respect and trust, something that he had betrayed. He agreed with their ideals, but he agreed with Garrett more. But the one thing that made him truly appreciate S.H.I.E.L.D. was that his team was like the one thing that he never properly had: family.

Coulson, May, Fitz, Simmons, and Skye were all like his family. They never betrayed him until after he betrayed them. They all had each others' backs, no matter the situation. They had dealt with assassins, gods, 0-8-4's, and pretty much everything out of the ordinary. Sometimes, he liked it when he was fighting alongside Coulson, but that was not his mission. His mission was to spy on Coulson and find out what brought him back to life so that Garrett could use whatever it was on himself to extend his life.

Now, he was dead. It was absolutely pointless to follow through in the first place. And Ward would've given up if it hadn't been for one thing:

_Skye._

From the moment when he and Coulson found her in her van on her computer, he knew that he had strong feelings for her. This escalated when he became her S.O. and she became his trainee and an agent. They grew closer with every mission, and he knew he was in love with her. Ward was about ready to stop his involvement in HYDRA altogether and reveal who the Clairvoyant was when Quinn shot her through the stomach, nearly killing her. He was absolutely furious at Garrett and nearly killed Quinn, but he knew what the mission was: to get Coulson desperate enough to find whatever it was that brought him back to life so that they could save Skye. Then, when Fitz and Simmons were trying to recreate the GH325 using DNA samples from Skye and Coulson, Ward brought the information to Garrett and he was able to recreate it. It drove him completely insane.

If he wasn't insane already, that is.

However, in the back of his mind, Ward was not sure why Coulson had suffered severe effects from the GH325 but Skye didn't. Perhaps it had something to do with her being an 0-8-4...

He didn't know why. It seemed that Raina knew, but he didn't know where she was.

But all of that didn't matter. The only thing that did was Skye. But even if he had a chance for redemption, _she _would never forgive him. No one would. She had called him a serial killer and a "disgusting, back-stabbing traitor." These were true, yes, but he wished to right his wrongs because he knew better now. He would resolve to do whatever was necessary in order to regain his lost trust and honor. He would become a good man again and win back Skye's heart.

Ward would re-become an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.


	2. Rock-up at the Lock-up

**_Two months later..._**

_"Are the charges set?" _said a voice over the man's earpiece.

"Yes, sir." the man said, with the detonator in one hand, his rifle in the other. "Do we have clearance to detonate them?"

_"Yes, you do. Blow it sky-high." _the voice said, and the man pressed the button on the detonator, blowing a hole through the titanium-reinforced doors. He turned to face the two-dozen agents behind him, and he said "Alright boys, lock and load. Time to get our friends back."

The alarm sounded, making sure that every S.H.I.E.L.D. agent inside the Fridge (after much restoration) was now fully-aware of HYDRA's presence in the facility. That is, of course, if the explosion wasn't a warning enough.

"Let's go! Move out!" the leader said to his men, their guns ready to fire. Two S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel came rushing to the entrance, but they were quickly dispatched after a brief second of enemy gunfire. All of the HYDRA agents ran into the Fridge, and the leader gave new instructions to the men.

"Lieutenant Harrison, take 7 guys down with you to disrupt their communication and security hardware. Lieutenant Perez, take 7 men with you to secure the prototype weapons. Everyone else, follow me while we secure the prisoners, except for you, Corporal Jones."

"For what reason, Captain Schmidt?" Jones asked.

After the rest of the men dispersed, Schmidt walked closer to Jones and said "Because we have orders from Baron Strucker himself to secure an H.V.I. from this place. His name is Grant Douglas Ward, and he recently worked with John Garrett on Project Deathlok for Cybertek. Now that Garrett is dead, Baron Strucker wants him back for information on a specific drug known as GH-325. Can you do this, Corporal?"

"Yes, sir. Hail HYDRA!" Jones said.

"I appreciate your enthusiasm, soldier. My grandfather would be proud. Hail HYDRA!" Schmidt said, and he went to meet up with the rest of his colleagues in freeing the prisoners.

* * *

"Sir," one of the S.H.I.E.L.D. technicians said just as his computer screen blacked out. "I lost visual feed in Sector 1-3-5."

"Same here, sir." another technician said. "I think we lost all of our security footage."

"Excellent." the head of the technicians said sarcastically. "Get the patrols on the line and tell them to remain on high alert. I think it may be HYDRA attacking us."

"Sir," yet another technician said. "we just lost comms communication with all of the security personnel."

"Then someone better fix this goddamn camera feed and restore our comms before this place turns into a goddamn bloodbath!" the head technician barked at his men.

* * *

As the HYDRA agents were weaseling their way through the automated-security systems and S.H.I.E.L.D. patrols, Jones was making his own way towards Ward's cell. With his rifle raised and at-the-ready, he started heading down the stairs, careful not to run into any more agents and gunning down any that stood in his way. When he approached the corridor that Ward was held in, he made his back hug the wall as he saw at least six S.H.I.E.L.D. agents walking down the hallway. Jones checked his ammo-levels, and saw that he had 1 magazine left for his rifle (he had used the others on his way down), 6 magazines for the two pistols strapped to his hips (the second was to be given to Ward once he'd freed him for his protection), 1 flashbang, 1 frag grenade, and a knife.

_Great, _he thought inside his head. _Now how do I get out of this?_

Suddenly, Jones came up with an idea. He threw the flashbang in the hallway while shielding his eyes as it detonated, leaving the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents temporarily blinded and stunned. Jones came out of his hiding place and started firing into the group, killing three before he heard a clicking noise come from his weapon.

_Uh oh._

The remaining agents had regained their focus and started to fire at Jones, but he ducked behind the wall where he was before. He dropped his rifle on the ground and pulled out his pistols, ready to shoot again. As the agents were reloading, Jones stepped out and fired into them until both magazines were empty and the three men laid dead.

Impressed with his handiwork, Jones walked up to the cell that Ward was being kept in, and started to crack the code that kept the door shut.

* * *

Ward, who had been hearing the explosions and gunfire from his cell, was feeling even more nervous now that the gunfire had stopped. He didn't know what was going on or who was involved, but he knew that whatever it was, it wasn't good.

Suddenly, he heard pounding on the door to his cell, and Ward, with his voice still raspy from when May had beaten him senseless, said "Who's there?"

"Agent Ward, it's alright. We're here to rescue you!" the voice said.

"Who's 'we?'" Ward asked, unsure whether he should trust this guy or not.

"I'll explain after I get this door open!" the voice said again. In a matter of minutes, Jones had cracked the code and the door swung outwards, revealing a soldier wearing a symbol with a skull overtop a bunch of tentacles on his sleeve.

"HYDRA, right?" Ward asked, less-than-happy to see the organization that he now despised.

"Yes. I'm Corporal Jones and we've been sent to rescue you. Here, take this." Jones said, holding out one of his M9s to him. Ward, reluctantly, grabbed the gun and slowly got up from his seat. He let out a minor shout of pain as he stepped on his left foot because it still hurt from his scuffle with May.

"Are you alright?" a worried Jones asked. "Do you need help?"

Realizing how ironic that question was, Ward said "No. I can stand on my own."

As he tucked the gun in the back of his pants, he saw Jones' knife sitting in its sheathe on his belt. Hoping to come up with a plan for what he should do next, Ward asked "Why are you breaking me out? What's so important?"

"We were ordered by Baron Strucker himself to liberate you. He wants to ask you questions about something called 'GH-325.'" Jones said, his back facing Ward.

Ward then realized the real purpose for his liberation: they weren't concerned with him, just what he learned with Garrett. He remembered seeing Skye at death's doorstep, and how the GH-325 had saved her life. _She _got lucky, but then he had given the research to Garrett for him to replicate, and it had driven him insane. After he had died, they had lost all of the research gained about it, except for some of the details that Ward had remembered, such as the insanity. He knew that if HYDRA got any information out of him and they were able to get their hands on it, they'd be unstoppable.

Suddenly, a brilliant, however insane, idea popped into his head: he wanted his chance for redemption, right? Well, he got it. The current situation that was happening right now, this was his chance!

Proceeding to carry out this plan, he asked Jones "Before we go, what's our motto again? 'Cut one head off, two more shall take it's place?'"

"Yes." Jones responded. "Why do you ask?"

"Do you want to test that theory?" Ward asked, eyes resting on the knife.

"What do you mean?" Jones asked, puzzled by what he intended to do.

All at once, Ward reached out and grabbed Jones by the mouth, pulled out the knife from the sheathe, and slit his throat. Blood began pouring out of his neck as Jones collapsed onto the ground, dead.

"Hail HYDRA, bitch." Ward said to Jones' corpse. He picked up his knife, magazines, grenade, and other pistol and began to head out of the Fridge.


	3. The Great Escape

As Ward was heading for the door leading to the stairs, he heard the sounds of footsteps and gunfire from above. He quickly started running up the stairs, hoping that there was something that he could do to stop it. As he approached one of the hallways, Ward saw that both S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA agents were engaged in a fierce firefight. Looking at his ammo levels, he knew that he had to pick his shots carefully. He aimed at the nearest HYDRA agent, and his finger pulled back on the trigger, causing a bullet to leave the gun and hit the guy in the head.

"Anyone else?" a cocky Ward asked.

The rest of the HYDRA agents turned around to face Ward, and they were surprised and shocked to see that he was killing his own comrades. Just as they raised their rifles, Ward raised both his pistols and started firing into them with trigger-finger speed that was unimaginable. As he stood, victorious, and his former allies laid dead, Ward said "Yep, I guess so."

Suddenly, he noticed that these agents had been carrying special items that came from the basement of the Fridge. Said items were prototype weapons and other 0-8-4s that were recovered after the fall of Garrett.

_What did they want with these?_

"Alright, Agent Ward. Drop the guns and put your hands in the air!" one of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents ordered, his rifle pointed at him. Surprised, Ward placed his guns on the ground and raised his arms, saying "Whoa! No need to get rough. I was just trying to help out."

"Put your weapon down, soldier. That's an order." the leader said. "I appreciate your boldness, young man. Tell me, who are you?"

"I-I'm Grant Ward." he said.

"Oh, _I _know that. _Who _are you? What do you do? What do you want to be?" he asked again.

Ward obviously knew that this was a test to prove his loyalty, so he said "I'm Grant Ward. I'm an ex-double agent for HYDRA, and I want to be an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. This time, I'm staying."

The leader gave a smirk and said "I like you, kid. Where are my manners?" He outstretched his hand and said "I'm Major Tony Masters."

Ward looked at Masters' hand, but he did not take it.

"Not a hand-shaker?" he asked.

"No." Ward answered. "The last time I got close to somebody like that, it did not end well."

"I understand." Masters said. "Now, the bastards have been at it all day. They're all over the place. Thanks to you, we were able to recover the stolen weapons from the basement. Now, we need to get the security systems back online so we can flush 'em out and get Schmidt."

"Schmidt?" Ward asked, unsure of who this person was.

"He's the leader of this attack. I'll explain more later. Here," Masters said, holding out a spare rifle to him. "You're gonna need this."

* * *

Ward, Masters, and the other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents made their way up to the floor where the HYDRA personnel was disrupting their comm lines and security footage. Masters had placed his ear against the wall and heard voices behind it, but none of them were familiar to him. He saw that there was a door leading into the room, but it was locked and could only be opened by using explosives, which he had none of. He told his men "HYDRA's right through that door. Anyone got any frags?"

"I do." Ward said, holding the grenade that he took from Jones.

"Well, today must certainly be my lucky day." Masters said in glee. "Alright men, back up. Ward, pull the pin when you're ready."

Ward set the grenade in front of the door and pulled the pin off of it, the he ran to join the others behind cover. After the grenade detonated with a loud boom, they heard a voice say "It's S.H.I.E.L.D.! Open fire and protect the control panel!"

As the HYDRA agents started to fire at them through the blasted door, Ward and Masters returned the fire and the other agents assisted as well. Masters had managed to kill one of the men, but he ran out of rifle ammo and they just kept on firing.

"Here!" Ward said, holding out one of his pistols to him. Masters took the gun and started firing once again, managing to graze one in the leg while Ward finished him off. Unfortunately, that was when he ran out of rifle ammo as well.

"Well, this isn't good." Masters said.

"Eh, I've been in worse situations." Ward said, pulling out his pistol. "You got any more mags?"

"I got a few, yeah." Masters said, holding the clips of 9mm ammunition.

They returned to firing at the HYDRA agents again, reloading and shooting for several minutes, killing at least three more men. Afterwards, Masters ordered everyone to stay put while he and Ward charged in to take out whoever was left. Ward entered the room first and saw one guy sitting in a chair and operating the control panel on the wall. The other two were standing there protecting him. He knew that he had three shots left in his gun, and decided to take it. He shot the panel-operator first, then one of the guys guarding him, then the third, but the bullet grazed his left shoulder as he lunged forward and tackled both Ward and Masters to the ground. Masters was having extreme difficulty while Ward was resisting his assault. Masters was knocked out, and the HYDRA agent wrapped his hands around Ward's throat.

"You are a traitor to all of us, Ward!" he shouted, clutching his throat tightly.

"No!" Ward spat. "You're the traitor! You gave up on yourself when you pledged loyalty to these people!"

"Is that any different than what you did?" he asked, squeezing away at his neck. Ward didn't answer, and the agent said "Didn't think so. Any last words?"

Ward had pulled the knife from his pants and said "Hail HYDRA!"

He stabbed the agent in the stomach multiple times until Ward could feel his blood dripping on him. Slowly, but surely, the grip on his throat became looser, and eventually he let go, falling to the ground, dead.

Ward, gasping for breath, said "Major Masters, are you alright?"

Masters started coughing, then his eyes opened. He said "Well, I feel like I just got the wind knocked out of me, but I'll be fine. Let's get the security cameras back online."

"Yeah," Ward said, and the two began to start fixing the security systems.

* * *

"Sir," one of the technicians said. "We have our visual feeds back online!"

"Comms are working as well, sir." another technician said. "What's our next move?"

"Locate the HYDRA agents and see how many S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel are still alive." the head technician ordered.

After a few minutes of searching the feeds, they saw Grant Ward, armed, making his way out.

The head technician said "Get whatever boys we have left to stop this guy!"

Suddenly, Tony Masters came running behind him, along with his S.H.I.E.L.D. patrol. One soldier pointed down the hallway, and everyone started shooting in that direction. _Why were they aiding a HYDRA agent?_

"Zoom out." the head ordered, and they saw that they were shooting at none other than HYDRA agents. This, however, raised another question: _Why is a HYDRA agent aiding them?_

* * *

"He's there! Schmidt's right there! Open fire, boys!" Masters said to his men, and they killed three of the HYDRA agents. However, the other four (including Schmidt) and the 5 prisoners they had freed had escaped onto the helipad.

"I'm going after him!" Ward said, and Masters said "Wait! Take this!"

He tossed him a pistol clip and said "Last mag! Make it count!"

* * *

"Everyone get on the jet, now!" Schmidt said to the prisoners. Once they had gotten on, he told his remaining men to get on as well, but Ward came running onto the helipad and gunned the three men down.

"Schmidt!" Ward shouted as he started to fire at him. In response, Schmidt pulled a pistol from his holster and started to fire at him, but Ward ducked behind a small cargo crate for cover. When he tried to shoot him again, he realized that his gun was empty. Schmidt walked back onto the ramp of the jet and continued firing at him, but Ward, with his quick-thinking, pulled out Jones' knife and threw it towards him, impaling his right eyeball.

"GAAHH!" Schmidt screamed in pain, then he pulled the knife out of his eye and walked inside of the jet. Ward tried to get on, but by then, the jet had already taken off and was flying away.

"Dammit!" Ward cursed, and Masters and his men came rushing to the helipad.

"Did you get him?" Masters asked.

"No, but I got his eye." Ward said, hoping to find some satisfaction in that. "He escaped with five prisoners, none of which I know or recognize."

"It's alright. We'll get them eventually." Masters placed his hand on his shoulder. "Great job today."

"Thank you, sir. I suppose I should be heading back to my cell now, right?" Ward asked.

Suddenly, a cellphone started ringing, and it was Masters' phone playing "Spider-Man."

"Seriously?" Ward asked.

"Hold on a sec. Hello?" Masters asked. Ward couldn't hear the conversation, but knew that it was important. He was even more suspicious when Masters was holding his phone out to him and he said "It's for you."

"Me?" Ward asked, surprised. "Who would call for me?"

"Listen for yourself." Masters said, and he went to give new instructions to his men.

"Hello?" Ward spoke, and the voice on the other end said "How are you today, Mr. Ward? Feeling good about yourself, I suppose?"

That voice. It was very familiar to Ward. He knew he heard it somewhere before, but he didn't remember who. As he was thinking about it, one man came to mind.

_No, that can't be true. He's dead. Everyone was told that he was dead. The Winter Soldier had killed him. How is this possible?_

Stuttering, he said "D-director Fury, s-sir?"

"Just Fury. Anyway, I want to talk to you about something." Fury said.

"About what?" Ward asked, hungering for answers.

"About your reenlistment into S.H.I.E.L.D." Fury said.


	4. Regarding Schmidt

Ward and Masters had arrived at the Hub, the S.H.I.E.L.D. base of operations that was taken back after HYDRA had revealed themselves to the world. They exited the plane they were riding in and entered through the lobby, with Ward wearing an authorized V.I.P. pass and Masters wearing his Level 9 badge. When they made it to the front desk, the receptionist said "Name and badge?"

Masters handed him his badge and said "Masters, Major Anthony P. I have authorization from Foxtrot, November Juliet to bring in the asset." Ward knew that he was talking about Fury, because over the phone he said that only a handful of people in S.H.I.E.L.D. could know he was still alive.

"Clear." the receptionist said, and he handed Masters his badge back. "Have a nice day."

"Come on, kid. Let's go." Masters said, and Ward followed him to the elevators.

* * *

The elevator had stopped 30 floors below the ground, and it opened to reveal a large conference room with a man dressed in a hoodie and sunglasses sitting at the end.

"Director Fury?" Ward asked, surprised that he wasn't wearing his usual long, black coat and eye patch.

"Son, please don't call me that. You should know that I'm no longer the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. After all, you helped to bring it down." Fury said nonchalantly.

Ward started to fill with rage as he sat down. Not at Fury, but himself. He was a large reason why the organization came crashing down, along with Pierce, Garrett, Quinn, and the Winter Soldier.

"Let me also remind you that you are directly responsible for the deaths of at least twenty S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, including Victoria Hand, the Hub director." Fury pointed out.

"I know." Ward said, looking at the ground.

"In addition, you also spied on your own team, helped turn Mike Peterson into a monster, gave a medical-marvel to a deranged psychopath, and nearly killed two of your teammates." Fury said.

These words were like music to Ward's ears. "Wait, Fitz and Simmons are _alive_?"

"Yes. Agent Simmons got out relatively unharmed." Fury said.

"Oh, thank God!" Ward said, feeling relieved that his (former) friends were still alive.

"But, Agent Fitz..." Fury started to say.

"What? What's wrong?" Ward asked, concerned for Fitz's safety.

Fury sighed, and then he said. "His brain was without oxygen for an extremely long time. He was lucky that we arrived there when we did. Unfortunately, he's in a comatose state and his arm is broken."

"Oh God." Ward said, placing his hands over his face. "What about the others? Are they alright?"

"Everyone else on your team is perfectly fine." Fury answered.

"Even Skye?" Ward asked, fearing for every bit of her.

"Yes. They're all fine." Fury said. He took note of Ward's words of concern about Skye and stored them in the back of his mind. "However, despite what you've done, showing your true colors, when those HYDRA troops broke you out of prison, you fought against them. Why?"

"How did you know this?" Ward asked.

"Once you and Masters got the security feed back online, the head technician sent me a direct visual feed of the security footage. You were there. You, a HYDRA double-agent, were aiding in the counterattack led by S.H.I.E.L.D. against HYDRA. Why?" Fury asked.

Ward thought about his words carefully, and said "I was never truly loyal to HYDRA. Only Garrett. He was the one who broke me out of juvenile detention, and so I followed him, no matter where he took me or what he made me do. I agree with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s morals to this day, sir. But I followed Garrett blindly into doing his bidding. Look where _that_ got me. When they busted me out, I didn't care about them anymore. I knew what would've happened if I went along with them. The end result would be the same."

"Alright, I believe you. Your actions today prove it. But tell me, are those the only reasons why you went with S.H.I.E.L.D., or was there something more personal?" Fury asked.

Ward took a deep breath, and then he said "Skye. I came back for Skye."

"Why?" Fury asked.

"I-I love her, and I want her to be safe. I want to ask, no, _beg_, for her forgiveness." Ward said, and he could've sworn that he had let a tear fall from his face.

"So, you gave up on your psycho-buddies for love. Where have I heard _that _one before?" Fury said sarcastically, turning his head to face Masters.

"I'm telling you the truth, sir. I just want to make sure that she stays safe." Ward said.

"Safe from what? She's safe right now, so do you know something that we don't know?" Fury asked.

"The guy who freed me said that Baron Strucker wanted information out of me about the GH-325. You know, the stuff that they used on Coulson and Skye." Ward added.

"I know what it is. Now, why would he want you to give him details about the crazy-juice that turns you into an absolute psycho?" Fury asked.

"I was wondering the same." Ward said. "Maybe they hope to find some means of stabilizing the insanity. They also were stealing the weapons from the basement of the Fridge, but all of them were recovered."

"What about the escapees? How many?" Fury asked.

"Five inmates and some guy named Schmidt." Ward answered.

"Hmm..." Fury said, then he opened a dossier folder and showed Ward a picture of a strange-looking blue alien, missing the lower portion of his body, inside an incubator marked GH.

"What the hell is that thing?" Ward asked, feeling terrified.

"This is a Kree. Krees come from the planet of Hala in the Large Magellanic Cloud." Fury said.

Ward went from afraid to confused as he heard Fury's words. _This sounds like something straight out of science-fiction._

"I literally have no idea what you just said." Ward said truthfully.

"Me neither. That's just what Selvig and Thor told us." Fury said. "Anyway, the GH-325 originated from this alien life-form."

"What?" Ward asked, shocked. "Why would you do this?"

"From what I can remember, Krees have accelerated healing, and this was part of a project to bring back any Avenger from the dead." Fury said.

"But Coulson wasn't an Avenger." Ward said.

"Neither was Skye." Fury pointed out.

Ward sat there in silence after hearing her name. It was his fault that she was in that position to begin with, and now she ran the risk of going insane like Coulson and Garrett because of his actions.

"I know, it's just- I never wanted any harm to come to her. Ever." Ward said.

"I know that wasn't your intention, Ward, but she's perfectly fine." Fury said.

"Do she and Coulson know about what happened at the Fridge?" Ward asked.

"No, and it was a pretty tricky thing to pull off, seeing as he's the new director." Fury said.

"What?" Ward asked.

"Yep. I appointed him as my successor." Fury said. "Anyway, we're looking into the profiles of the escapees, but here's Schmidt." He pulled another picture out of the folder to reveal Schmidt's face, both eyes still intact.

"This is Hans Schmidt. He's a high-ranking HYDRA agent and close associate to Baron Wolfgang von Strucker. He is the grandson of Johann Schmidt, the Red Skull, the original founder of HYDRA. He is a skilled assassin, marksman, swordsman, and hand-to-hand combatant. We are unsure as to whether or not he has acquired the super-soldier serum that Johann used on himself through heredity or through self-experimentation. Either way, he's extremely dangerous and he'll be looking for you now." Fury explained.

"For what reason?" Ward asked.

"So he can bring you back to Strucker and get the information needed to replicate GH-325. Either this is for his loyalty to HYDRA, or himself." Fury said. "Anyway, we need you to track him down."

"Why me?" Ward asked.

"Because I know you want your chance for redemption. This is your chance. Are you in?" Fury asked.

Ward though about it and said "Alright, I'm in. What do you need me to do?"

Fury laughed and said "I knew you'd come around! Now, the first thing I need you to do is gather intel from one of their bases of operations with Taskmaster."

"'Taskmaster?'" Ward asked.

"That's me." Masters said. "That's my codename in the field."

"Oh, okay." Ward said. "And how do we do that, sir?"

"Well, let me explain that to you," Fury said. "because it might get a little cold."


	5. Reminiscions and Regrets

Skye was standing in the shower at the Playground, Coulson's new base while he was building S.H.I.E.L.D. back from the ground-up. Over the past two months, she had been cooped up inside this place and she was trying to keep herself occupied with as many things as possible so that she wouldn't die of boredom. She would talk to the other agents, train, do chores, assignments, help the others with their assignments, hack into the nearest HYDRA server, read, visit Fitz at his bedside, pull minor pranks with May (who's been a different person ever since Ward was arrested), play Battleship, sleep, or, probably her favorite pastime, shower. She felt it was a great way to cleanse yourself of your worries and fears.

Sadly, even this had lost its charm to her, mostly because the water was never hot in this place. Whenever she took one, she'd feel the hot water at first, but then it would just rapidly cool down when it touched her skin. Skye addressed her complaints to Coulson and Billy Koenig, but they checked the water heater and said that it was perfectly fine.

_As if. The water's almost freezing!_

Now that she couldn't relieve her stress with a warm shower, she was forced to think about getting herself clean. But there was that one thing that always came back to her mind, something that she had been trying to forget for a long time.

_Ward._

Skye hated Grant Ward with all of her heart, not too long after she had loved him so. It was hard to accept the fact that he was a HYDRA double-agent, and she hated him for that. How many lives had he already taken? How many more would he have claimed in order to fulfill his mission to Garrett? He was nothing but an order-obsessed Nazi. Hell, he even _looked _like a member of the Hitler Youth.

_He's nothing but a bloodthirsty psychopath._

Still, Skye couldn't deny the fact that _he _still loved her, regardless of his loyalties or motives. He had never wished for any harm to come to her, even after she learned who he really was. He cared for her strongly, only for her to send the Cavalry in on him. Skye didn't know how he was or where he was, but she didn't care.

_Just because he might care for you doesn't mean that you should care for him._

When she was finished, Skye got out of the shower and put on her bathrobe. As she was walking towards her room, she saw that Triplett and May were playing a game of Battleship in the common room. Skye enjoyed this game and still played it, but her mind would always go back to Ward whenever she did play, since that was his favorite board game.

_Snap out of it, Skye. Don't let this one asshole drag you down for the rest of your life._

She then saw Coulson walking by with a cup of coffee in his hand. He seemed more tired recently, and he spends most of his time either in his office or in the basement, although he never says what he does down there.

Skye passed by the hospital wing were Fitz was, and she saw Simmons at his bedside. She would stay there, crying, all day unless Triplett pulled her away for meals, bathroom, and sleep. She was so heartbroken ever since Fitz fell into his coma that she hardly spoke anymore. Skye wondered if he would ever wake up.

Sighing, she went into her room and put on her workout clothes. Skye felt that training released her stress and kept her focused for whatever lay ahead of them all. When she made her way into the gym, she saw that Billy was leaving the room after putting up a brand-new punching bag. Skye couldn't help but think of his brother, Eric, another one of Ward's victims. They were essentially the same person, and she may have called him "Eric" once or twice before.

When she put on her fighting gloves, Skye started punching the bag repeatedly, remembering all the techniques she was taught by...

_Damn it, Skye! Get him out of your head!_

Her hatred of him only grew as she continued punching the bag, dealing more force with every blow. She then imagined that the bag _was _Ward, and her hits were even more relentless. Again and again, she punched the bag while feeling all of her anger flow through her, and, when she imagined Ward's face, her fist went flying forward and hit the bag with a tremendous amount of force, causing it to break open and fly off the hook it was hanging onto and across the room.

Observing what she just did, Skye said "Whoa. What just happened?" Billy had just put that bag up, and now it suddenly broke loose and flew across the room? It didn't make any sense.

As if the gods were against her (which a few were), Billy walked into the gym and said "Oh my God. What happened here?"

"I- uh..." Skye said, unable to give a proper explanation. "It broke?"

"Yeah, it must've. I _knew _I should've gotten a better punching bag from somewhere other than eBay. I swear, I thought that guy said it was guaranteed to last." Billy said.

"Yeah," Skye said nervously. "some people in this world are liars, right?"

"I guess. Well, do you want me to get another one or-" Billy started to say, but Skye cut him off.

"No! It's, uh, it's fine. I think I'll go back to my room now." she said. Luckily, he bought it, and she walked back to her room, closing the door behind her.

_Okay, what the hell just happened? All I was doing was punching the bag, then I thought of Ward, then it broke. How is that possible? Sure, I really hate him, but that doesn't explain how I did that._

Skye pondered the scenarios in her head, and the best one she could think of was the simple fact that she was angry at him and that she had released some of that anger on the bag. _That makes the most sense, I suppose._

As she climbed into her bed, Skye remembered all of the good times that he had with him, and how happy they felt together. But after his betrayal, the bad memories overcame the good ones. She then remembered what Fitz had said to the team not too long ago:

_"I don't believe people are born evil."_

She supposed that he was right, but Ward, no matter what person he used to be, was already too far gone. She didn't think that there any way that he could redeem himself even if he tried. To Skye, he would always remain the backstabbing-traitor that he was.

If only she knew...


	6. Update

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't updated recently. I'm just having some writer's block and some limited access to the internet. I'll try to post Chapter 6 as soon as I can, but for now just hang in there. If you have any suggestions for what my story should include, please feel free to review or PM me and I will look at them all. Thanks guys and stay classy!

- Spent


	7. Yet Another Update

Hey guys. I'm really sorry that I haven't updated recently. I've just been really busy lately and I haven't had a lot of time to work on my stories. Plus, I'm having some major writer's-block. Let me assure you that I haven't abandoned this one or any of the others. I'll update as soon as I can, so just hang in there. If you have any suggestions or comments, feel free to review or PM me. Thank you, guys. Stay classy!

- Spent


End file.
